"Culture is a frontline service"- Avonmouth group agree with Cultural Commissar

Addressing the National Children's and Adult Services conference in Liverpool, Professor Phil Redmond (Deputy Chair and Creative director, Liverpool Culture Company) argued ‘Culture is a frontline service.’ He saw cultural development as a means of enabling people to talk together and draw confidence from each other. This, he said, was fundamental to renewal.

Big Wide Talk agrees. Our evidence shows that, given the chance to have deliberative dialogue over time, people who live in the same place begin to unpack the role of culture in their lives and their children’s futures.

Wikipedia defines culture as "all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation." A group of parents and practitioners in Avonmouth have worked with us unpacking their understanding of culture. Over a period stretching from July 2000, they have worked with us exploring their shared experience of: family, household, children’s creativity and learning, word of mouth networks, engagement, bringing up children, living in the same geographical context, living in the same economic context, schools, community centres, public services, rights and responsibilities.

What follows is a reprise of their work with us and the conclusions they have reached: